Garden Day Success!

We just had a highly successful Garden Day event. It was a beautiful day, absolutely lovely and sunny with very little wind. We didn't count but we think we had 15 participants, all of whom were enthusiastic about learning new gardening techniques. I don't know what I would have done without Zak, as he was right hand number one man.

We began with a tour of the tiers and raised bed in back, and did a walk around the spot where the community garden will be. Then we went over and began the demos. There were lots of questions about the various techniques and lots of excitement over the new community garden. I was very pleasantly surprised at the turnout.

We showed how to make SIPs from pop bottles, earth-boxes from totes, a compost bin from a laundry basket, and showed how to plant upside-down tomatoes. We built an upside-down planter and planted a tomato in it. We also talked about using cloth mesh bags instead of plastic ones for produce and the value of eating locally grown foods.

We set up a solar cooker made of very basic materials and showed how to use it. Here is a picture of the ingredients Zak prepared for a rice dish, to be cooked in the solar cooker.

We should have started it a little earlier. Like about two hours earlier! However, after three hours in the solar cooker Zak just went out and brought it in and finished it on the stove in 10 minutes. It is yummy! And this actually was quite a success, as our UV rating is not considered high enough to use for solar cooking at this time of the year.

And here is a picture of the cooker, which was very quickly cobbled together from a piece of used Reflectix, an aluminum roasting pan, a plant pot, a turkey roasting bag and a black cooking pot borrowed from Ruth next door.

We had quite a few people sign up for the community garden. People will be allowed to build raised beds, as well as have containers, which is very good. The park will provide containers and soil, as well as prepare the garden area. We will have a picnic table under the willow tree and I think it will be a wonderful way to increase community spirit and get to know each other better. Working together is always a good way to get to know someone.

All in all I am very happy how this turned out, better than I had hoped!